Work is about to start to remove 10 poplar trees from an urban nature reserve.

The trees line the River Len close to the entrance to the council-owned River Len Local Nature Reserve off Square Hill Road in Maidstone.

Experts have declared the poplars unsafe and in danger of toppling.

Maidstone council said the trees would be examined for any bat roosts before any felling takes place.

Cllr Clive English, the cabinet member for the environmental services, said: “It is always very sad when we have to take down any trees.

“However, the safety of our residents has to be our top priority.

“We will cut the resulting wood into logs and use these to create a hibernaculum, which is a protective sheltered habitat for insects and amphibians.”

Tony Harwood is the chairman of the River Len Nature Reserve management committee.

He said: “The future of the large hybrid black poplar trees bounding the south bank of the River Len between Square Hill Road and the Wat Tyler Way fly-over has attracted significant local interest.

“Many residents are concerned that the existing sylvan outlook will be lost when these large trees are felled, with views opened up to the large apartment blocks and road infrastructure nearby.

“There are also local worries about traffic noise, air pollution and the impact on wildlife.

“However, this must be balanced with the understandable views of some of the closest neighbours to these poplars, whose property and wellbeing is at risk from the instability of these very tall and fast-growing trees.

“The tree works proposed are the minimum level required to ensure safety, while retaining screening and wildlife habitat.”

“Though the course of the River Len from Square Hill Road to Wat Tyler Way is now a rich tapestry of woodland and wetland habitats that teems with wildlife, it is in truth a brown-field site with past uses including a water mill, scrap metal dealers and car storage.

“There remain substantial areas of hard standing, including cobbles, concrete and tarmac, just beneath the soil and vegetation.

“This means that the hybrid black poplars are very shallow-rooted and potentially unstable.

“Furthermore they are not a native tree species, but a hybrid between our indigenous black poplar and a North American relative.

“This hybridisation makes the trees vigorous and fast-growing, but this unnatural origin also makes them brittle and prone to wind-damage.”

“As the climate warms and autumn storms increase in their ferocity, the risk can only increase.”

Cllr Harwood said: “A ‘right tree, right place’ approach is being taken within the reserve with non-native trees, that are less valuable for landscape and wildlife, being replaced by native species (including our rare and beautiful native Black Poplar) through natural regeneration and where necessary planting.

“The areas that have shallow soils overlaying the hard standing from historic uses of the site are being maintained as glades, rides and clearings that benefit many invertebrates and reptiles.

“Perhaps, the most significant ecological concern arising from the felling of the hybrid poplars is not the loss of the trees themselves, but rather the luxuriant growth of ivy, mistletoe, honeysuckle, lichens and mosses that they support.

“However, the spaces created when the trees are felled will soon be filled by other vegetation as the damp and fertile riverside conditions are very conducive to growth and some habitat disturbance can benefit rarer species by creating new habitat niches to colonise.”

The Len Valley Nature Reserve can be accessed via a path of Square Hill Road or another one just beside the Sainsbury’s car park off Romney Place.